While other college students pulled all-nighters and crammed for exams, McCarter balanced her master’s in advanced clinical management and leadership curriculum with facing 25 years to life in prison.
A black banner covered her powder-blue robe saying “Columbia U failed to support this criminalized DV survivor. I graduated anyway!” as she crossed the stage on May 16.
The high-profile case played a pivotal role in the Manhattan District Attorney election, with DA Alvin Bragg—who tweeted his support for McCarter during his campaign—pressured to follow through and discard the office’s prosecution against her. The charges were dropped at the end of last year, thanks to a platform and subsequent public support from Survived and Punished, an organization that advocates against the imprisonment of victims defending themselves against their abusers.
“I always had this kind of in the back of my mind—the dread of not being bold enough to choose to go to the Ivy League,” said McCarter. “My hospital offered a partnership with Columbia University for NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital nurses, where we could get our master’’s degree …at a subsidized rate.
When she was arrested and detained on Rikers for over half a year, McCarter looked forward to rejoining the cohort, but she found out the university had suspended her pending a student conduct hearing after her release. She was strongly warned that contesting the interim measures could affect the pending case.
“I couldn’t just celebrate this triumphant moment of me conquering the Ivy League. I don’t even want my family to be there and that’s what this [case] took from me.” But McCarter believes she offers way more than just her Ivy League education to prospective employers. During the pandemic, when she was sidelined by both work and school due to the charges, she was on the ground fighting for healthcare equity. When McCarter was at Rikers, she reportedly taught fellow detainees how to protect themselves from COVID-19. She hopes to revisit such work at a professional level.
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